The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Statistics" ...
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Wisconsin veterans face job challenges, stigma
To talk to those who recruit veterans at job fairs or politicians who tout veterans’ service, one would think that military experience would be an asset in the American job market. Presumably, employers would go to great lengths to accommodate injuries veterans may have. But statistics support an ominous feeling many Wisconsin veterans have in their collective gut: that the stigma of disability – and even of military service – puts them at a major disadvantage.
Tags: Job markets; job fairs; injuries; disability; military service
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Empty-desk epidemic
For years, Chicago officials published upbeat statistics that masked a crisis in the city's schools: Nearly 32,000 of the city's K-8 grade students — or roughly 1 in 8 —miss a month or more of class per year, while others simply vanish from school without a trace. This devastating pattern of absenteeism, which disproportionately affects African-Americans and children with disabilities, came to light only after Chicago Tribune reporters dug it out during a years-long FOIA battle to obtain internal district data.
Tags: K-12 education; schools; absenteesim; Chicago; statistics manipulation
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The Cash Machine
An investigation reveals that the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office seizes millions every year in small amounts of cash seized from individuals stopped by police— but not necessarily arrested, and often never convicted of a crime. Through the use of "civil asset forfeiture," the Philadelphia D.A. has created a kind of forfeiture assembly line, pursuing cases for small amounts of cash by the thousands via a system which proceeds without regard to guilt or innocence and which places a tremendous burden of proof on the property owner. This investigation is one of the first quantitative looks into a big-city forfeiture operation and includes statistics compiled from reviews of thousands of court records as well as data compiled by hand.
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Blood Ivory: Ivory Worship
At a time when the elephant is under siege and the world's media and NGOs have long focused attention on poaching in Africa, Bryan Christy went after ivory’s demand side. He spent nearly three years building a groundbreaking investigation into this crucial but poorly understood aspect of the illegal ivory trade. Using court records, official documentation, law enforcement sources, and reporting across five continents, Christy identified, for the first time, that religion plays a huge and ruinous role in the sale and purchase of illegal ivory; that China's government is driving the world's ivory market, has manipulated attempts to control it, and has plans to expand; and that the statistical model used by global regulators to make ivory trade policy decisions is insufficient and has been exploited.
Tags: elephant; ivory; ivory trade
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Kidnapping in Phoneix: Uncovering the Truth
In 2008, Phoneix Police reported some startling statistics. 358 kidnappings had been recorded in 2008 alone. KNXV-TV's investigation uncovered that the statistics used were inaccurate.
Tags: Phoneix Police; Kidnapping; KNXV-TV; 2008
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Off Campus Crime
While the Clery Act requires Texas universities to report on campus crime, they are not required to report any off campus crime that affects their students. The numbers were staggering and showed a clear difference in the safety of students on campus versus off.
Tags: Texas Tech; Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act; Clery Act; campus crime
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Public Service Journalism Via Apps and Interactives
The Texas Tribune uses government records lawmakers, agency chiefs, educators and influential state figures would rather not be public. Projects include a campaign finance database offers a comprehensive, searchable tool to see who's bankrolling their representatives. The public schools database provides extensive access to comparative data on all of Texas' school districts.
Tags: data; government; statistics
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Phoenix Kidnappings: Uncovering the truth
"For years Phoenix has been called the kidnapping capital of the U.S. Police, city leaders and politicians blamed it on the border, citing 2008 statistics that claimed there were 358 kidnappings that occurred in the city. However, KNXV's investigation uncovered the statistics used were inaccurate."
Tags: kidnapping; border control; crime; broadcast
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ESPN Outside the Lines: Luck of the Draw
The analysis of 10 years of men's and women's Grand Slam draws shows the top two men's and women's seeds in the U.S. Open faced easier opponents in the first round than is statistically probable if the draws were truly random.
Tags: tennis; U.S. Open; French Open; Grand Slam; sports
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The Speed Traders
60 Minutes investigates high-frequency trading which is a new form of stock trading executed by computers running on complex statistical formulas.
Tags: computers; stock; trading; high-frequency